- How typical is Sin City to its genres?
- Identify the genre conventions.
- Question if they are diluted or not.
- Link and discuss!
Sin City is a combination of Film Noir and Comic Book genres. The film opens with a scene of mistrust and betrayal, which are typical codes of a film noir genre. A man reassures a woman in red that he will protect her and keep her safe. After convincing her she hugs him, only to be shot with a gun silencer so to not draw any attention. This is incredibly deceptive and the audience is left wondering his motives for killing this, supposedly, innocent woman. She is wearing a long red dress and red lipstick, and although the film is predominantly in black and white, the red colour is vibrant and eye catching. The red creates connotations of blood shed and when the woman is lying dead on the ground, the camera pans upwards to give a long shot of the roof top where the murder has just taken place. From a distance the red dress spreads out across the roof top and this represents the death that has just occurred. Similarly, the protagonist Marv portrayed by Mickey Rourke, shows conventions of both film noir and comic book genres. During a fight scene with three hitmen, Marv uses the head of one man to dent a brick wall, something that is virtually impossible. It exaggerates the strength of Marv and the audience are aware of his somewhat 'supernatural powers', relating to the fictional stories in comic books. Also, he has film noir characteristics because he has a mental illness that causes him hindrance throughout the film, and he is also constantly in self-doubt, despite being the protagonist. He says things such as: "Giving a two time loser the time of my life" and "sure as hell wasn't my looks" in narration when he doubts why a woman like Goldie would spend the night with him. This contrasts the typical protagonist role whereby they are usually confident, if a little cocky, and it is no surprise if they succeed in various ways throughout the film. The film noir genre frequently features manipulative femme fatales who aim to use their looks to get their own way. However in this text, this genre convention appears to be a little diluted. The females in this film that act as the sex appeal, including Wendy portrayed by Jaime King, do not use their appearance to succeed over other people, especially not men. In fact, women are represented as very weak and incapable in this film. In one particular scene, Lucille (Marv's parole officer) portrayed by Carla Gugino, attempts to take charge and even knocks Marv unconscious in an attempt to support herself against the police. She fails and is killed, immediately.
Not a bad first attempt Tom. You raise many valid points but I feel you have lost track of the question on the odd occasion. Use the language from the question throughout to help you answer it at all times. Also try to be a little more systematic with your response, maybe list the points you will use to answer the question in a mini introduction then go on to each one. I think there were more obvious cynical protagonist quotations you could of used for Marv. Also have you used the word convention? I am being hyper critical as we are going for a very high grade this year.
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